Orange County’s median home
price as of February 2016 was $610,000, a
decrease of $9,000 compared to January 2016
yet an increase of $18,500 compared to February
2015 home prices. The housing market, especially
in Orange County, is being watched closely
considering the large fluctuations recently
experienced in home prices as well as due
to both domestic and international economic
concerns. While the housing market continues
to display strength, a rise in interest rates
from the Fed, continued struggles by younger
generations to accumulate their savings and
preponderance for younger generals to favor
rentals could negatively impact the housing
market going into 2016.

The Orange County average rental
rate in January 2016 decreased to $1,672 –
a decrease of $217 compared to the previous
February and a decrease of $139 compared to
the previous month. On a per-city basis, Huntington
Beach had the highest year-over-year growth
($97) while Santa Ana and Irvine saw large
declines of $604 and $655 year-over-year,
respectively. On a month-to-month basis, the
average apartment rent increased in Huntington
Beach increasing by $202, reaching a total
of $2,031 per month as of February 2016. Santa
Ana also saw an increase in rents month-over-month,
growing by $102.

Orange County Building permit
activity in October 2014 hit landmark highs
with 1,892 permits granted during the month.
December 2015 experienced a negligible decrease
in new permits issued with 655 new permits
recorded in the county for the month, a decrease
of 1 permit since November 2015 and a decrease
of 90 permits since December 2014. Garden
Grove represented the city with the highest
amount of new permits recorded during the
month of December 2015 at 180, an increase
of 179 compared to readings for the previous
month.

Orange County’s median home price is compared to other regions,
showing the year-over-year and month-over-month change in value.

Source:
Dataquick

Average
Apartment Rents Orange County and by Major City

This indicator shows the average apartment rent for major Orange
County cities and for the county average as a whole. The county
average as a whole is not the average of the seven cities shown
in this chart but for all the cities in Orange County.